Brown Finishes Fourth At UConn, Drops To Second In Region

Feb 19, 2007

Feb. 19, 2007

Hebron, CT -
At the second of three consecutive shows at Windcrest Farms, the Brown equestrian team finished in fourth place, relinquishing its lead in Region 1 to the University of Connecticut. The Bears finished the day with 21 points, behind UConn (40 points), Trinity (38), and Roger Williams (33). With 241 points on the year, Brown is now one point behind the Huskies, who hosted the show.

Junior Whitney Keefe (Wellesley, MA), who was named a captain at the beginning of the semester, took home a blue ribbon in Open Flat after failing to pin in Open Fences. While certainly not her best performance overall this season, the seven points were enough to vault her over Amanda Tustian of URI for the lead in the Region 1 Open Rider Standings.

After getting no points in Open Fences, the Bears played catch-up the rest of the show. Captain Courtney Pope (Concord, MA) pinned third in Intermediate for four points. Freshman Emma Bogdonoff (New London, CT) placed sixth in Novice, giving the Bears five points after the jumps portion of the show. Unfortunately for Brown, the best performance of the first three classes came from freshman Rachel Griffith (Merrimack, NH), who pinned in second in her class in Novice Fences.

The Bears had a bit more success in the flat portion of the show than in the jumping portion. Keefe led off with her blue in Open, with senior Gillian Heinecke (Concord, NH) also turning in a blue ribbon in her class. Senior Jessica Mendelson (Los Angeles, CA) also had a third in the event. Pope pinned third as the point rider in Intermediate Flat, with senior Kimberly Mickenberg (Armonk, NY) also taking third in her own class.

In Novice Flat, Bogdonoff pinned fifth in her class as the point rider. Her horse was pulled after the next class, but she did not get a re-ride because she had finished ahead of other riders in her class. Freshman Tessa Lee (Johannesburg, South Africa) came in first in her class to give the Bears their third blue ribbon of the day. In Walk Trot Canter, junior Stephanie Syc (Lake Forest, IL) earned Brown's fourth and final blue ribbon of the day, but junior point rider Sarah Morris (Silver Spring, MD) pinned just sixth, earning one point. Finally, in Walk Trot, junior McCall Lewis (Murray, UT) and senior Rachel Kapelke-Dale (Milwaukee, WI) both placed third, while junior Kiauntee Murray (Jersey City, NJ) came in fifth as the point rider.

This Saturday, Brown will once again head to Hebron for a show, this one hosted by Wesleyan, the team that actually calls Windcrest Farms home. That is one of three shows remaining before Regionals on March 31.